On 03/10/2020 23:51, John Rumm wrote:
On 03/10/2020 20:15, Andrew wrote:
On 02/10/2020 21:24, John Rumm wrote:
On 02/10/2020 19:38, GB wrote:
On 02/10/2020 19:23, Chris B wrote:
I have just received an estimate from a tradesman (based on
photographs to save him the time of a visit) which includes £199
Plus VAT for listed parts.


The very same parts are available from suppliers listed on amazon
(not amazon itself) for £96.98 Including VAT and delivery.


I know that part of the tradesman's profit comes from the Sale of
parts but I always thought that they bought parts from suppliers at
trade prices and then billed for them at retail prices.

Is a markup on parts of well over 100% typical in the building
industry or is this a simple indication that he doesn't want the job?


So far I only have one estimate, as I don't like wasting 3 peoples
time for jobs of less than half a day, when only one is going to
get the job.

I am wondering if its worth getting any more or is this typical.



As a professional, I charged for my time. If I bought in services
for clients, I passed them on at cost.

Which if you literally do that (i.e. sell at your buy price), means
you lose money on every part sold - since procurement takes your
time, and bites into your cash flow, warranty replacements then just
increase that loss.

However, I got a quote from a gas fitter recently who charged a
fairly high rate for his time AND wanted to sell me a lot of parts
with a 100% mark-up. This made his hourly rate of charge really high!

100% might be taking the pee, although it depends on the market and
the product.



100% is pretty well par for the course in the garage trade. My
ex-MOT-tester neighbour still does it for all the private work
he still does. And he charges VAT on the bull**** 'retail' price
and then pockets the extra 20% on the markup.

Which seems like a fairly sloppy bit of VAT fraud - especially if
someone audits one of his customers, and checks the bona fides of the
invoices they are claiming VAT back on.



They are all private individuals, generally older folk who cannot
afford main dealer servicing on their 8+ YO whatever. Many of them were
his customers when he did have a premises and a proper business.
He has been 'retired' for a few years and is of the opinion that "I have
paid plenty of tax when I ran my garage business". HMRC think he is just
filling his time watching daytime TV I guess.

His clients all probably think he is still 'in business' so don't query
it, or the handwritten invoice and pay mostly in cash anyway.

He's a bit thick in many ways. I've had arguments before about the
trade vs 'retail' pricing. As a private person he pays VAT on the trade
price and the customer never sees his trade account or invoice. QED
he can charge whatever he likes, but he is adamant that he 'has' to
charge the 'retail' price, and probably thinks he 'has to' charge
VAT too !, but his VAT number went with the garage
business he sold years ago.